Jul 28 Summery bean salad {gluten free}

I've been in Ottawa, my hometown, for almost a week now for a much-needed holiday. It's the first time I've been back in over a year, and let me tell you it feels great to spend time with my family and enjoy the city. I left London in the middle of a heatwave and arrived to extremely rainy weather in Ottawa. Normally for my summer holidays, I'd be quite disappointed to have lost half of my time to downpours, but with six-week-old baby Arthur around it's been amazing to spend lots of time indoors getting to know my new nephew. I only wish I could stay a bit longer and continue to watch him grow!

Before leaving for Ottawa, I kept the cooking to a minimum because the thought of using the stove or the oven seemed unbearable in the heat. My typical heatwave-friendly meals have been a big bowls of summery salad, preferably ones that keep well in the fridge for lunches the next day. This summery bean salad has become a favourite in our house lately, because it's extremely quick to throw together, it's very tasty and it's packed with all kinds of good stuff (protein, greens, veggies). It's gluten free (as with all the recipes here on my site), and you can certainly make it vegan by either skipping the mini mozzarella or substituting it for some plain or flavoured tofu cubes.

What's great about this recipe is that you can easily adapt it to what you have in the cupboard. Feel free to play around with different types of beans (I'm thinking navy beans or cannellini beans would work nicely), different types of olives or caper berries, and whatever fresh herbs you have to hand. For the shallots, I've added an extra step to the recipe, because I generally have issues digesting raw onions and garlic. By quick-pickling the shallots for about twenty minutes to half an hour, they lose their bite and I find them much easier to digest. If you don't have issues with raw onions, feel free to skip that step and use regular shallots.

I hope that you enjoy this salad and that you stay cool wherever you are! What are you favourite heatwave-friendly meals? Do you have any great make-ahead salad recipes? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!

-xo KA

Summer bean salad {gluten free}

This summery bean salad is the perfect lunch or dinner for hot days when you don't want to turn on the oven. This salad can easily be made vegan by skipping the mini mozzarella or substituting it for tofu cubes. If you have issues with raw onions, I've included instructions to quick-pickle the shallots - this is what I do whenever a recipe calls for raw onions or shallots to make them more easily digestible.

Ingredients:

1 400 g can chickpeas, drained

1 400 g can kidney beans, drained

1 400 g can sweetcorn, drained

12 Halkidiki olives, quartered

20 mini mozzarella, halved (approx. 150 g)

200 g (approx 2 cups) cherry tomatoes, halved

1 big handful chopped parsley

1 french shallot*, thinly sliced

5 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp cider vinegar

2-3 tsp french dijon

1 tsp honey or maple syrup

1 good pinch sea salt flakes

1 tbsp dried oregano

Freshly ground pepper to taste

*If you're like me and have difficulty digesting raw onions, you can add an extra step to quick pickle the shallots. To do this, place sliced shallots in a small bowl or jar, cover with cider vinegar and add a pinch of salt, a tiny bit of honey or maple syrup and a couple peppercorns. Leave for about a half hour, while you prepare the rest of the salad. The longer you let them pickle, the softer their flavour will be. Drain them before adding to the salad, remembering to remove the peppercorns.

Method:

Add the chickpeas, kidney beans, sweetcorn, olives, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, parsley and shallot to a large salad bowl and toss to combine.

In a small jar, add the olive oil, cider vinegar, dijon, honey or maple syrup, sea salt, dried oregano and ground pepper. Put the lid on the jar and give it a good shake, until emulsified.

Pour the dressing over the salad and mix to coat.

Serves 4 as a main, more as a side. This salad keeps well in the fridge so can be made a head of time.